


Til Death Do Us Part

by SSDriscool



Series: i hope you'r happy even if you're not mine [1]
Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Multi, Pre-Poly, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 22:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17754980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SSDriscool/pseuds/SSDriscool
Summary: “Curtis is a brother to you. And the other men you served with are your brothers-in-arms. But Billy… Billy’s in love with you, Frank, and I think those feelings are mutual between you two. I think… denial is much more than a river in Egypt.”And there’s the dry snort of amusement she had been aiming to get out of him. Two birds, with one stone. Maria Castle had always been an overachiever. Certain the action wasn’t purely skepticism from the hint of laughter around Frank's eyes, even if it's overshadowed by the somewhat confused and pained twist to the rest of his expression. “Even… even if that’s true, which I highly doubt… We’re married, remember? Vows, honeymoon, two point five kids and a picket fence? This ringing any bells?” Frank’s expression settled somewhere between offended and defensive.





	Til Death Do Us Part

**Author's Note:**

> This short one-shot ( w/ potential for more ) is simply the middle finger I fly for all the ships I got invested in over the years, before canon came along to effectively and utterly obliterate them into burning smithereens of betrayal. Brank is the most recent case and this is the outcome. The only thing that gets murdered in this AU is monogamy.

They haven’t had sex in more than a week. It’s not uncommon ( they are married and Frank wasn't in a rush to conceive a third child ), but it wasn't the norm when they spent the last ten days sharing the same space; downtime usually wasn’t something they let go to waste. He can already tell it wasn’t going to happen tonight, either. Even if she was wearing his favorite little number of lace and a baggy t-shirt that read "stud muffin" in faded text. The shirt a gag gift she had bought him when they were dating, and then stole for herself not too long after. There’s no tension of insecurity caused by a lack of intimacy to be found in Frank’s shoulders though. He could tell by the pensive look on her face that she's still trying to figure out how to approach a subject she wanted to discuss. A topic important enough to put off their mutual desire for one another. The expression on her face was a cute look, but he’d rather his eyes have found the cheeky smile that had swept him off his feet.

His lips parted to voice his thoughts and then promptly pressed in a thin line when she straddled his lap and touched his jaw. The determined look in her eyes made it clear she was finally going to speak her own mind. Frank more than happy to rest his back against the headboard as he waited. It was far too easy to be patient for her.

“You’re a simple man, Frank, and you know I love you…” Maria started off without truly meeting his eyes. Her fingers tapped against his collarbone as if it was the most interesting musical instrument she’d ever come across.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment…?”

She rolled her eyes and continued on without answering his question. “And I know you love me and the kids to death…” She said with such conviction that it made his chest feel too small to contain the sudden swell of warmth against his rib cage. And yet, he said nothing, because there was something that told Frank a 'but' was coming. The soldier trying to evenly breathe through the paranoid clench of his gut. His thumb slipped under her shirt and kneaded into a bare hip to anchor himself. "… But monogamy isn’t the only way to experience or express love… The kind of love between us.”

And _there_ it wa… **Wait**.

Frank blinked a few times and ran her words through his mind more times than he could count. “Wait… are you saying you want an open relationship _?_ ” he inquired, while sitting up so fast it almost jolted Maria from his lap. His free hand brought up from the mattress to brush his hair out of his eyes. He needed to make sure he was reading her face properly in the dim bedroom light.

“No, Frankie…” She sighed, soft hands splayed across his chest. The familiar nickname and touch made him want to melt, even if he was still tense with the need to understand… to know that he had **misunderstood**. “I’m saying it’s okay to love Billy the same way you love me.”

What the fuck?

Once more, Frank found himself blinking as his mind thought back over what she said. _It’s okay to love Billy the same way you love me_.

“Babe, what the hell… I’m not ~~in~~ -… _thinking_ of leaving you for Russo.” And since when had he called Bill by his surname last? The simple instinctual twitch to do so almost telling of how defensive he suddenly felt. The very outcome that Maria had hoped to avoid.

“Frank… you’re not listening either. You’re usually good at that.” The playful glint in her eyes told him there was no real bite to her words. His shoulder relaxed as she ran a thumb over the skin between his eyebrows, and he tried to work together what she meant. It was a difficult task to accomplish when all he could hear echo against his skull was those five words... _It’s okay to love Billy_.

“Of course I love him. He’s like a brother to me…” He didn't realize he spoke out loud until he heard an answering hum from Maria. The pensive look back on her face.

Maria wanted to ease the tension with wit right then, say something that would turn the stoic lines of Frank’s lips to the smile she loved so much. It was usually how she dissolved any tension between them, but there was no getting around the issue now. She opened a can of worms older than her marriage and was determined to see it through, for her marriage. For Frank. And Billy.

“ **Curtis** is a brother to you. And the other men you served with are your brothers-in-arms. But Billy… Billy’s _in love_ with you, Frank, and I think those feelings are mutual between you two. I think… denial is much more than a river in Egypt.”

And there’s the dry snort of amusement she had been aiming to get out of him. Two birds, with one stone. Maria Castle had always been an overachiever. Certain it wasn’t purely skepticism from the hint of laughter around Frank's eyes, even if it's overshadowed by the somewhat confused and almost pained twist to his expression. “Even… even _if_ that’s true, which I **highly** doubt… We’re married, remember? Vows, honeymoon, two point five kids and a picket fence? This ringing any bells?” Frank’s expression settled somewhere between offended and defensive.

However, the tightness of his brow ebbed away when Maria cupped both his cheeks. “And it’s okay to want more, Frankie… to feel more.” His face was an open book. That was what she loved most about the man, despite all his troubles and trauma and inability to sometimes verbally express himself, he could never expertly school the expressions on his face. So she doesn’t know why she didn’t see it sooner.

Perhaps it was because Billy was so much better at playing it closer to the chest. Maybe she was okay with having Frank to herself when she didn’t know Billy Russo as well as she did now. One night of taking care of a piss drunk Billy had opened her eyes to it and now it was as clear as day on Frank’s face, too.

“So, what… I just ask Bill to shackle down with us? Explain to the kids that Uncle Billy is our boyfriend now but mommy and daddy very much still love each other? Invite him into our bed and hold his hand when walking the dogs, like I do yours?” There’s no venom to Frank’s words. There's just a hefty weight of doubt that made it clear how exhausted he felt. He wasn’t completely lacking self-awareness, after all. These were feeling he'd been in the midst of burying when Maria had first caught his eyes across the bar. He simply believed he had gotten past them, moved on from the thoughts and fantasies that plagued him when he had been occupying a cot right next to Billy. It seemed he had been wrong, though, but he was certain there's no way in hell that _Billy Russo_ ever returned those feelings.

“Honey… I’m not saying we should turn our lives upside-down the first thing tomorrow.” She clarified. Her hand running over his bare skin as Maria shifted off his lap and onto her usual side of the bed. “Just… think about the fact that your best friend spent an hour last week crying on my shoulder while... profusely apologizing for still being in love you, and how that makes you feel… Because no matter your feelings or your decision, I’ll be by your side until death does us part. Even if that means our family… _our home_ , contains more than a husband, wife, and two point five kids.” Her words weighed heavily on him and he watched her walk to the bathroom with a conflicted look.

The bedside lamp turned off when she returned to the bedroom, Frank laid with his back to her. The folded over half of the covers a clear indication that he wasn't putting space between them, but was just too weary to finish this discussion. Frank's eyes closed against the words that echoed in his mind when the bed dipped and Maria held him from behind.

_It's okay to love Billy the same way you love me._

~~Was it though...?~~

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading. Constructive criticism is always appreciated; I failed the eff out of Lit class when it came to sentence structure. And if the story is liked well enough, I might get around to writing a second chapter where Frank confronts Billy about their feelings.


End file.
